DPR Member Concerned that Government's Plan Will Determine Human Rights Activist Status

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Deputy Chairman of Commission XIII of the Indonesian House of Representatives Andreas Hugo Pareira is concerned about the government’s plan to determine the validity of human rights (HAM) activist status.

The PDI-P politician assesses that this policy has the potential to make the government a “protector” for human rights violators.

“If the government, which is part of those in power, plays a role in determining and legitimising who is a human rights activist, then the tendency and possibility that will occur is that the government will not act as a protector, but instead become an ‘activist protector’ for human rights violators,” Andreas told Kompas.com on Thursday (30/4/2026).

Therefore, he said, the main capital for human rights activists is courage and a sense of humanity in defending victims of human rights violations.

“We know that human rights violators around the world are usually people with power, people with a lot of money, people with weapons, or a combination of two or three of those things,” Andreas said.

Moreover, the government is part of the party that holds power.

“So where is the government’s actual position? The government should be a protector of society from threats of human rights violations,” he concluded.

The Ministry of Human Rights is preparing an assessment team to ensure that legal protection is only given to parties that truly carry out the function of defending human rights (HAM).

“There will be a team, an assessment team. The assessment team will then decide whether this person is an activist or not,” said Minister of Human Rights Natalius Pigai in an exclusive interview with Antara in Jakarta on Wednesday (29/4/2026).

Pigai said the mechanism is designed to filter activist claims while preventing the misuse of status in legal processes.

He explained that the assessment is carried out based on strict criteria that evaluate the context of a person’s actions at the time of the incident, not just their status or self-claim.

“So, it is possible that a human rights activist, at a certain time, the assessment team finds that they are working, even though their status is as a human rights activist, when they are working for payment, that cannot be considered a human rights activist,” said Pigai.